Pakistan Army has reported this Sunday that 23 of its soldiers and more than 200 Afghan Taliban fighters and insurgents affiliated with the Kabul fundamentalists died in several combats between the borders of both countries.
“During the night clashes, 23 brave sons of Pakistan embraced martyrdom while defending the territorial integrity of our beloved motherland in the face of this outrageous action, while 29 soldiers were injured,” the Pakistan Army’s media wing (ISPR) said in a statement.
The source assessed that, according to “credible” intelligence estimates“more than 200 Taliban fighters and affiliated terrorists were neutralized, while the number of wounded is much higher.”
The figure contrasts with that offered this Sunday by the Taliban in Kabul, who said that 58 Pakistani soldiers and nine Afghan They died in fighting on the Afghan-Pakistani border, where armed clashes have continued today.
Pakistan claims that the clashes began last night with “unprovoked” attacks from Afghanistan, while Kabul considers its action a “retaliation operation” for the bombings that, according to the Taliban, Islamabad carried out in Afghan territory last Friday.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have warned this Sunday that they will respond to future attacks.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, has specified in a message published on his profile on the social network X that the Pakistani response is not directed against the Afghan civilian population.
“Unlike the Taliban forces, we act with extreme caution in our defensive responses to avoid the loss of civilian lives. “We hope that the Taliban government will take concrete measures against the terrorist elements and their perpetrators who wish to derail relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he said.
Import the cerrado right border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan, including those in Torkham, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and Chaman, in Balochistan.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan deteriorated following the seizure of power of Kabul by fundamentalists in August 2021after the departure of American troops from the country and the fall of the Republican Government.
The Pakistani government blames the Afghan Taliban for providing refuge to the TTP – ideological brothers of the Kabul fundamentalists – to carry out attacks in Pakistan.